Gallup: West Virginia Most Obese State For Third Year In A Row

HOLLYWOOD, FL - AUGUST 31: A shirtless man stands outside August 31, 2007 in Hollywood, Florida. The recent F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America, 2007 report from the Trust for America's Health shows that adult obesity rates rose in 31 states last year, according to the fourth annual report. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)File photo of an obese man. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (CBSDC) — Public research and analytics outfit Gallup has learned that West Virginia has the highest rate of obese persons in America.

A reported 33.5 percent of West Virginia residents are obese, Gallup Wellbeing, based in Washington, D.C., learned.

“[H]owever, this is down from 35.3 [percent] in 2012, which was the highest for any state that Gallup and Healthways have found since 2008,” the report on the findings additionally noted.

Other states following close behind in the contest for most obese were Mississippi with 32.2 percent, Arkansas with 31.4 percent, and Louisiana with 30.9 percent.

Alabama, with a 30.4 percent rate of obesity, rounded out the top five.

On the healthier side of the scale, Colorado was ranked as the healthiest state in regards to weight – just 18.7 percent of its population is obese, Gallup found.

The national obesity rate is said to be 26.6 percent, which is on par with the previous year’s findings, but indicates a rise in obesity from 2008, when just 25.5 percent of the nation was considered to be obese.

Data was collected from participating respondents who offered their height and weight information as part of information gathering for the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.